FIRST BOARD MEETING OF THE NEW UNION

The official publication of the SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local.

One of the first problems to be solved after merg-er was where would the new Local Board meet? The board room at the Local SAG-AFTRA office

wouldn’t hold a board that had suddenly doubled in size. Frank Traynor to the rescue!

Frank secured the use of an adequately sized classroom at Temple University’s center city campus and the first meeting of the new Local Board was held there on April 18.

You Only Rock Once: An Evening with Jerry Blavat, The Geator with the Heater

The Geator with the Heater, The Big Boss with the Hot Sauce, describes only one man — Jerry Blavat. Jerry’s career started on Ameri-can Bandstand in Philadelphia, went national with his own dance shows and has held faithful radio listeners and club-goers spellbound for decades. His energy lights up a room, and his decades of community service make Jerry a true broadcast pioneer. The term legend

truly fits Jerry Blavat because he has made his mark in TV, radio, nightclubs, films and now as author of You Only Rock Once (Running Press). Members gathered April 2 to hear Jerry be interviewed by SAG-AFTRA Board member Harvey Jaffe — and finally get pinned by Co-National Board member Helen McNutt.

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Members gathered to hear an interview with Jerry Blavat at Sugar House Casino. (L-R) Harvey Jaffe, Jerry Blavat, Sharon Pinkenson and Frank Traynor.

Co-Presidents John Wooten and Catherine Brown, shake to seal the deal.

Attending the first Board Meeting of SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local were Catherine Brown, Mark Kochanowicz, Rob Charry, Volieda Webb, Christy Springfield, Mike Kraycik, J. Emerson McGowen, Helen McNutt, Chuck Varesko, Harvey Jaffe, Christopher Mann, Cyndy Drue, Meagan Hill, Skip Fisher, Sara Jane Blazo, Sam Clover and John Wooten.

Summer 2012

SAG-AFTRA PHILADELPHIA 230 South Broad St., Suite 500 Philadelphia, PA 19102

215.732.0507Sessions Archivewww.aftraphiladelphia.com/sessions

PRESIDENTS’ REPORTS By Co-Presidents Catherine Brown and John Wooten

CAST & CREW

Editor : Shelley Figures

Contributing Editors:

Stephen Leshinski

Frank Traynor

Chuck Varesko

SESSIONSOfficial publication of SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia.

www.aftra.com/philadelphia.html

LOCAL SAG-AFTRA STAFFExecutive Director:

Stephen Leshinski

Associate Executive Director:

Shelley Figures

Assistant Director Broadcast & Production:

Frank Traynor

Local Organizer :

Al Stewart

Contracts/Signatory Administrator:

Lynn Koenigsberg

Benefits & Membership Administrator:

Michele Dooley

Co-President — Catherine Brown Harvey Jaffe

Co-President — John Wooten Sylvia Kauders

1st Vice President — Chuck Varesko Mark Kochanowicz

2nd Vice President — Dick Sheeran Michael Kraycik

Secretary — Cyndy Drue Paul Kurtz

Treasurer — Ed Fischer Gail Lewis

National Board Member — Helen McNutt Christopher Mann

National Board Member — Bill Shusta J. Emerson McGowan

Sara Jane Blazo Christopher M. McMullin

Rob Charry Susan Moses

Sam Clover MJ Myers

Donna Dundon Christy Springfield

Lisa Ann Goldsmith Volieda Webb

Meagan Hill Brian Anthony Wilson

LOCAL BOARD MEMBERS

Congratulations SAG-AFTRA!

Thank you. This whole space could be filled with gratitude for every single effort that went into the creation of

our promising new union, SAG-AFTRA.The news conference to announce the

successful and overwhelming vote results marked not an end but a momentous new beginning for the 160,000 member force, with outstanding staff members all around the country standing ready to support our careers and help guide our collective success.

Our first steps as SAG-AFTRA have gone by at break-neck speed from staff to members now immersed in culture-building. It’s about finding new ways of thinking based on blending best practices that have proven to be successful, and seeking new solutions to pave the way to a better future together.

I am personally very honored to serve as Philadelphia Local co-president with John Wooten and as national vice president, Broad-casters, on the Executive Committee, and the Initial National Board, and the Committee of Locals with Helen McNutt and Bill Shusta.

What hasn’t changed? My favorite signature line is still very much in play: “YOU are the union!” You are the strength, the vision, the guides, the voices that make it all work. It takes all of us and that’s the best part, for me, about this new adventure. Everyone — yes, that means you too — has a place and a responsibility to help make SAG-AFTRA the best we can be. That’s what we voted to do.

So I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting busy to fulfill our shared mission. How about you?

In solidarity,Catherine

History has been made, the mark has been set and the page on Philadelphia is now positioned to be turned for the ben-efit of our members! As we have already gotten down to

business working hard on framing up our Local, I am ecstatic about

working alongside your Co-President Catherine Brown. What has changed? I am now your co-president; what has not changed? My fight to bring opportunity to Philadelphia.

That’s right, my promise stands as I con-tinue to promote the Philadelphia Local as a principal, production-friendly, thriving entertainment town. What’s needed from you? Simple, the continued support that you have shown your leadership during these past few years, from obtaining a city resolution honoring the Tri-Union Commit-tee and union productions to Read Across America campaigns showing our union supporting education in schools. Our presence is known around town and our mark is pro-fessionalism. May it resonate through the industry in our efforts to fight non-union work, so-called “right-to-work” legislation and unfair working conditions.

Lastly, I recently had the opportunity to represent your union on the SAG-AFTRA bowling team at the ABFF Strikes event, which was a part of NFL Hollywood Bootcamp (a former SAG National EEO Committee initiative). Sitting on the former SAG National EEO Com-mittee as co-vice chair, I identified an opportunity for our union to have a voice in the very first annual NFL Hollywood Bootcamp, which seeks to introduce the union to interested pro NFL players who wish to transition their careers into the film and entertainment industry as producers or actors. These future filmmakers were excited about our presence and learning more about our union, why we exist and how to become a member. Our National Executive Director David White and former SAG EEO Committee Co-Chair Bertila Damas were se-lected as delegates to speak at the event. This was truly a successful and notable effort highlighting the type of energy and ideas coming out of the Philadelphia Local. I was honored to chair the subcommit-tee that led this initiative.

Onward to more work for Philadelphia!

Make sure you’re in the loop! Provide your email address to SAG-AFTRA so you get the latest news fast!

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By Stephen Leshinski SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Executive Director

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

From the desk of

Frank TraynorAssistant Director – Broadcast & Production

For nearly two years, it has been my privilege to serve as the North Region executive of Screen Actors Guild. Under the direction of Executive Director Marcia Fishman,

we have worked very closely with the AFTRA staff in Philadelphia to bring, in partnership with Actors’ Eq-uity Association, members in Pennsylvania, Delaware and South Jersey seminars and workshops that are designed to help them get that next job and nail that next audition.

Now, under Executive Director Steve Leshinski, As-sociate Executive Director Shelley Figures, Lynn Koe-nigsberg, Michele Dooley and Al Stewart, I have been welcomed into the ranks of a great team with a long history of leadership and proud service to members. To-

gether, this new SAG-AFTRA staff in Philadel-phia is poised to serve members in all the disci-

plines members enjoy work. I thank you all for the past two

years and look forward to our new adventures and successes together as this new family takes shape and works hard to turn all your dreams into realities. My dream as a young boy growing up here in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s was to be a cowboy. AFTRA made that dream a reality when I became a TV reporter and met and reported on real cowboys out in West Texas. Dreams do come true, so dream big!Frankie The Kid

It’s hard not to feel (a) excited and (b) relieved that the March 30th vote tally for merger added up to a win for the 160,000 members of SAG and AFTRA. For those of you who made phone

calls, spoke with your friends, posted on Facebook, attended meet-ings, and otherwise put your blood and sweat into making the merg-er a reality, years from now you can look back and say, “I was there. I helped make that happen.” Not only was the margin of victory enormous, but the vote turnout in both unions showed that this was and is truly the will of the membership. No doubt people will look back on this as a historic time for SAG-AFTRA. But here in Philadel-phia when they look back, what will they see? Will they see a blip of activity over the course of a few months that eventually receded? Or will they see the spring of 2012 the beginning of a new union movement for broadcasters, sound recording artists, and perform-ers of all shapes and sizes that truly took hold of their industry and never looked back?

It’s not a rhetorical question. Already in Philadelphia we’re see-ing the fruits of merger with a blowout first membership meeting and added staff capacity as we better coordinate job functions. The boards have successfully merged, appointed officers and gotten to work on a new constitution. And just to make sure we really can hit the ground running, we have three major projects in our area that

We Did It! What’s Next?members are working on which is test-ing all of the new clearance and commu-nications protocols for our first months of SAG-AFTRA.

Now it’s your turn. It’s your turn to put your fingerprint on the new union and help set its course. Will you jump into the professional devel-opment planning component to help members refresh and refine their skills? Is it in the legislative/public policy arena that you want to get involved to make sure that laws that protect child actors and prohibit broadcast “non-compete” agreements get passed. Or now that we’re one union do you have plans for new organizing that you want to make happen by working with our newly hired local organizer, Al Stewart?

It’s easy to feel that the merger vote was the end of the campaign and, in some ways, it was: the end of AFTRA and the end of SAG as two separate entities. But what the merger vote was, in all actuality, is the beginning. The beginning of a new union that will organize, advo-cate, legislate, protect, and represent performers and broadcasters throughout our market and throughout the country. And you have an important role to play.

Let’s get to work.

Local Organizer HiredSeveral months ago, before the new union was voted on and

approved, AFTRA National made matching grants available to Locals so they could hire dedicated organizers. The Philadel-

phia Local was one of the those given a matching grant — and the search for an organizer began.

The search resulted in the hiring of Albert E. Stewart. That’s right, our new organizer is Al Stewart. He is not the singer/songwriter from the late ‘70s, but he does come from a musical background. He has sung with many famous artists over the years and music has taken him to three continents. He presently sings with his 13-year -old son in the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Men’s Chorale.

What makes him suited to be the new organizer for SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia is his 20-plus years of organizing experi-ence. He has organized unions around the country for AFSCME and SEIU in a variety of workplaces.

Al delved into community organizing projects in New York and Philadelphia over the last decade, building communi-ties and empowering ordinary citizens to do extraordinary things.

Al is a father of three and was voted the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Men’s Chorale’s 2011 Man of the Year.

Al Stewart

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Our First Merged Annual Meeting

On March 30, 2012, Local members celebrated the news that merger was approved, creating SAG-AFTRA—one union. History continued on April 18, as the new

SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local Board met officially for the first time. Another first came on April 30, 2012, when members and staff and special guests gathered for the first SAG-AFTRA An-nual Meeting in Philadelphia.

Local Co-President Catherine Brown was presented with the Bill Evans Award for outstanding service to AFTRA. (L-R) Local Co-President John Wooten, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon, NBC10 producer, Shelley Laurence, Brown, NBC10 news anchor Tim Lake.

Catherine Brown addressing the members.

Roberta Reardon speaking to the crowd.

Local Co-President John Wooten got mic time.

Local Executive Director Stephen Leshinski.

Jason Jordan and Helen Chong attending the meeting directly after a long day on the set of Political Animals, with Anthony J. Giampetro, who now will reap the benefits of one union.

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Members listened attentively.

Will the member sign in please...

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Elizabeth McElroy, secretary-treasurer Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO.

National Board members Bill Shusta and Helen McNutt.

Stephanie Perry, director of Theatri-cal/TV Contracts spoke to the mem-bers about the variety of theatrical contracts the union makes available to producers.

Our fellow actor, and union mem-ber, David C. Roehm Sr., age 84 of Runnemede, passed away on

Friday May 4, 2012 at Vitas Inpatient Hos-pice in Stratford, New Jersey.

David is survived by his wife, Alice M. Roehm of Runnemede; his children, Alice Peters of Lindenwold, Gail Costa of Atco and David C. Roehm Jr. of Runnemede; and several grandchildren.

David was a veteran of the Navy (WWII), a member of Un-dine (Schuylkill Navy) since 1952, an alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and enjoyed many careers before entering the acting profession.

David had roles in several films and television shows, includ-ing Hack, Bottleworld, The Woodsman, Murder Below The Lines, Law & Order, Mort, Pawns, The Lovely Bones and Boardwalk Em-pire.

To email a condolence to David’s family visit:http://www.lpwoosterfuneralhome.com

AFL-CIO NewsBy Cecil Parker

Union, yes! America’s best! Brevity is the operative word this month in that having attended the annual

state AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia, as well as the monthly delegates meeting, the overall news is encouraging but guard-ed at best. A voting rights seminar is forthcoming to hopefully turn a negative into a positive as far as the delegation being more informed for the benefit of its respective constituencies.

Verizon talks are still stalled after a year, despite very high prof-its and rececnt excessive executive bonuses estimated to be in the double-digit millions, and community college employees have worked since August without a contract. These are personifica-tions of the assault on all of our union rights and way of life. It DOES affect you! As we are now ‘one,’ the push is for more union facilitation for you and me. Stay tuned!

In Memoriam — David Roehm

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Every Picture Tells A StoryGreen Eggs and Ham Anyone?

Members, including Co-President John Wooten (pic-tured) in Delaware, and other members in Sharon Hill, Delaware County, pitched in and celebrated Dr.

Seuss’ birthday by reading to students during National Read Across America Day.

SAG-AFTRA @ Philly ActorFest

Members and staff turned out for panels and workshops as Back Stage magazine’s Actorfest came to Philadelphia on May 5. This was the first Actorfest event ever held out-

side of New York or Los Angeles. Hundreds attended the event at the Philadelphia Convention Center, where they were introduced to our local franchised agents for just one of the many breakout workshops.

Local SAG-AFTRA organizer Al Stewart manned the informa-tion table. In the photo above, he explains the greater size of a paycheck earned under a union contract.

Jim Brown, director of Health Services for The Actors

Fund of America, conducted a workshop for members

on how to get and keep health insurance in the informa-

tion and entertainment business. This was a Tri-Union

event organized by AEA and their local liaison and SAG-

AFTRA member Tom Helmer.

Health Insurance Seminar

Social Networking & e-Auditioning

Conservatory members attended a hands-on seminar to learn how to promote and network online, as well as learn how to set up so-cial networking accounts, record their own auditions and upload

to sites such as YouTube, Facebook, IMDb, Twitter etc.Presenters included local social media marketing experts, co-founders

of Mojo Social Media Marketing Drew Griffin and Kevin Emery. Member Dan Rush and Mike Kraycik, conservatory chair (e-marketing

consultant), presented the e-auditioning portion of the program.

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BROADCAST BEAT — News From Our Shop StewardsCBS3 NewsBy Neil Rattigan

SAG-AFTRA members at CBS3 are turning their attention to what they want in their new contract. The current three-year deal

expires in September. CBS3 and CBSPhilly.com are making more room for more awards.

The Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association handed the Eyewitness News team first-place awards for News Documen-tary (9/11 Remembered) and Continuing Coverage (Basement of Horror). For the second straight year, CBSPhilly.com has received a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from RTDNA, the Radio Televi-sion Digital News Association, for Online News Operation Web Site. The website is also looking for a digital media producer following the departure of Ben Bowens. He’s now the social media community manager at ShoeBox Recycling.

Congratulations to Reporter Jericka Duncan, who’s been named Journalist of the Year by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journal-ists for her work on the Basement of Horrors story.

The XTU Shop is excited about the new union! So much so, that our company decided to build us new

studios! Okay. That’s probably not what they had in mind, but we are excited for the up-grade just the same.

Speaking of upgrades, since January, we’ve gained a couple new members. Brian McKay has upgraded his status from part-time jack-of-all-trades to full-timer, splitting his time between his mid-day air shift and production assistant. “But don’t worry,” says Brian, “I’m not putting in more than 40 hours a week!” No problem, Brian. That’s why we’re here.

And for the first time, the morning show producer has become a union position! Kevin Crockett is thrilled to not only represent SAG-AFTRA, but also to take advantage of what we have to offer, like a great day out at the Camden Riversharks, “though I’m still waiting for

WXTU NewsBy Andie Summers

the pitching coach to get back to the dug-out.” This year XTU celebrates our 28th year playing country music in

Philadelphia! We’re all gearing up for our annual anniversary show, a full-day free festival show at the Susquehanna Bank Center on June 2nd. This year’s show will be hosted by Kix Brooks (formerly of the duo Brooks & Dunn), who will also perform, along with Miranda Lambert, Chris Young, Uncle Kracker (yes, he plays to country audi-ences), Jarrod Niemann, Josh Thompson and many more. Hope to see you there!

By Sam Clover

At this writing, Philadelphia Total Traffic is still engaged in nationwide negotiations for eleven SAG-AFTRA Total Traffic (Clear

Channel) shops across the country. We are over-coming setbacks that stalled negotiations, including a Department of Justice investigation into West-wood One’s sale of Metro Network to Clear Channel last year, which prohibited the start of any real discussions. However, the investigation is done and representatives from Clear Channel and TTN met with us for several sessions in New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago.

March negotiations in Philadelphia were highlighted by the pro-duction of a five-page flyer from the Philadelphia negotiating team that included many written testimonials and photos of our unit, stat-ing why we all stayed with the company during the difficult tran-sition to new ownership. At the conclusion of the second day of negotiations, copies of the flyer were personally presented by Total Traffic co-shop stewards to the Clear Channel negotiators and their attorneys. The idea was to give real voices and faces to the workers who cooperated with the company and made their new acquisition a success. At our recent meeting in Chicago, we handed the com-pany representatives a petition signed by an overwhelming majority of members from each of the shops expressing their desire to see an economic proposal from TTN and for negotiations to conclude with a fair agreement as soon as possible.

Due to the groundbreaking nature of pounding out a standard agreement that would be in effect at each of the shops and the aforementioned setbacks, the process has been quite drawn out. We hope our efforts will show the company we need to reach a fair agreement very soon. Meanwhile, it ain’t over yet and we will provide an update in the next issue.

The WPHT producers recently complet-ed negotiations on a one-year contract extension in order to piggy-back on

CBS3/KYW negotiations this summer. Michael Cerio begins From the Phans, a

show on Phillies 24/7 WOGL HD-4 and con-gratulations to Sandro Anello and Lacey Flenard on graduating from Rowan University.

Philadelphia Total Traffic News

WPHT NewsBy Clinton Petty

Shop stewards — send your shop reports to Sessions! Tell the Philadelphia membership what’s going on at your opera-tion. Email your reports to: sessions@aftraphiladelphia.com

The Local SAG-AFTRA Conservatory presents

Nuts & Bolts of the Acting BusinessThe Acting Professionally Program

With Paul NolanAugust 20, 2012

Actors must master a number of skills to practice their art. They must also master the business of acting.Paul Nolan brings 25 years of experience as a profes-sional actor to this seminar. He will discuss all aspects of the business side of our art — including dealing with agents, managers, resume preparation and more. Learn the business skills you need to succeed.

Watch your email for the event location!

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SAG-AFTRA230 South Broad StreetSuite 500Philadelphia, PA 19102

ContentsFirst Local Board Meeting of the New Union ....................................1

You Only Rock Once: An Evening with Jerry Blavat ........................1

Co-Presidents’ Reports ....................................................................................2

Stephen Leshinski: We Did It! What’s Next? ........................................�

Assistant Director – Broadcast & Production .....................................�

Local Organizer Hired ......................................................................................�

Our First Merged Annual Meeting ............................................................�

AFL-CIO News ....................................................................................................5

In Memoriam — David Roehm ..................................................................5

Every Picture Tells A Story .............................................................................6

Green Eggs and Ham Anyone? ....................................................................6

Health Insurance Seminar ...............................................................................6

Social Networking & e-Auditioning ..........................................................6

SAG-AFTRA @ Philly ActorFest ................................................................6

Broadcast Beat ......................................................................................................7

Welcome New Members!Bethany AlineLois AnnDavid Morrison BlattEileen Marie BradyBill BrownMac McCue ButlerSabrina CarpenterStephanie CavalliDawn CerretaMichael ConnollyEcco ConteCorinne CostsCrockett Maiya CunninghamAlan Christopher DavisLaelle DavisPat DeFuscoJaeson EfreLisa FairfaxAlexis FerranteMark FowserDanny HenriquezAnnie JacksoThomas D. KramerJanice LaFlamChristopher LatzkeAmanda Luce-CaterinoChristine MaddelaSuzanne Mara

Carmen MarinoErica Lynne MarszalekChuck McClellandMichael McFaddenAbigail MentzerLiz NaroDean NeistatLendsey NesselbushDevon P. O’BrienJennifer O’NeillLou PachecoJo PizziKelly RiglerM RossiLarissa S.Sheena SamanipourRachael SamuelsMichelle SantiagoJeffrey ScottLoren Edward ShofieldDavid StraussJeffrey VoiceRick VoightJohn WIbbsJefry B. WilkersonColleen WolfeIke WolinsAdam Vincent Wright